One Heck of a Show
by kokoro77
Summary: At one point in time, money was the issue. So I figured I'd go to acting school to resolve it. Another problem. Dancing on stage, getting wet with my first crush...in a dress. I was that desperate to buy myself a car. Axel x Roxas contest entry


**hello, officer: i do not own any of the characters in kingdom hearts nor do i own the original story line. i just own, live and breathe the game. thank you, nomura. ;)**

**Author's note: yes, i have returned with yet another story. BUT! this one is -dun dun dun dunnnn!- a oneshot. my first one at that. as you can see from the date, yeah...took a while and a lot of sleepless nights/mornings to get done. -ugh- anyway, i came up with the idea because i spotted a contest on deviantart that provided some themes to choose from.**

**the idea is to create either a fanart or a fanfiction based on that theme and i chose sort of a mix between "rain/storm" and "shakespeare". hrm...i'll let you be the judge on what theme this should lean more towards. XDD;**

**and, once again, akuroku abounds. what'd you expect? i mean, really. XO please enjoy my very first, completed oneshot for KH. -lights, camera, action- :P**

* * *

_Date Started: August 19, 2007_

One Helluva Show

Once upon a time, money was never really an issue. I mean, sure, it's important and all, but when I think about it, there was a time when people were spending money like it was going out of style. So a couple years later, this huge computer decides that it hates all humanity and dies on us, making all the rich poofs lose their stocks. Out of the blue, some guy in a grey business suit has the guts to show up on national TV, clear his throat and mention in this husky voice: "we're screwed."

Where am I getting with this? Well, every good fairy tale has a past, beginning, middle and happy ending. That's what we were all taught as little kids during story time; cookies and all.

But this story? Oh, sorry...no fairies and no Cinderella with a magic lamp around here.

Just one big story that circles around an event...

A _very_ interesting one at that. Why so interesting? Let's see...where to start?

Well, after realizing that the money was starting to slip through people's fingers, mom and dad figured that them working 10 hour shifts at the bar and club wasn't cutting out. So, as a kid, I refused, _refused_ to let myself suffer while I grew up. After all, that one Power Ranger action figure was begging to be bought. I was smart! And you know what I did?

I started up acting.

Why acting? Geez, isn't it obvious?

The pay was insane! Think of it: Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe, even that one guy from Blue's Clues got lots of hard earned dough uttering one syllable on screen. Grande-dollars. That would be enough to get me swimming through a pool of Power Rangers.

So at age 11 I started practicing on my toys, talking to them and making up replies. I started incorporating gestures, flinging my arms around and even trying to fake cry (which I still think is hard as hell to do). Mom and dad just let me do my own thing and kept moping back home while talking about that one drunk guy that'd they'd kicked out last night.

Sure, they still adored me and all and thought it was 'cute' that I was 'performing' for mommy and daddy...

"_Yes, that's cute, honey!"_

"_You're gonna be such a great little actor, sport!"_

"_Honey, you don't think that's unusual, do you?"_

"_Nah, it's just child's play."_

...And all that love and adoration sent me straight to acting school as soon as I was ready to leave the house. I was about to prove them that there was more to me than meets the eye...sort of like a Transformer.

First let me say that this is where the story begins, goes through the middle and ends. What kind of ending? I've yet to figure that out. From the looks of where I stand now, holding hands with _this_ guy, one I was flat out intimidated by, and bowing with him on stage, the sky looks pretty blue. The cheering just won't stop, the standing ovation could go on for years and I can't stop laughing even while I'm bowing in a dress.

Yes, a dress.

But it _wasn't_ always like that. In fact, the first thing that came to mind as I left that taxi and stepped into the puddle stained streets of Hallow Bastion was the same droned voice of the grey business suit guy, following me like a Jiminy Cricket on my shoulder:

"I'm screwed."

* * *

_Love sought is good, but given unsought, is better._

* * *

My name's Roxas. Ever heard of the name? Well, before you know it I'll be rolling in millions of credits, playing on theater screens and flooding internet pages world wide. I'll be a superstar, a rich guy in a tuxedo that was bought for me from Timbuktu...wherever that is. But for now my name's unknown and just written down in this life story.

Trust me, I'm not a prat and I'm sure not a pompous snoot. I'm just, well, Roxas. 18 years old. Spiky, dirty blonde hair that people fail to believe I don't gel for it to be that way, bright blue eyes (credit: mom) shorter than most guys, music obsessed and definitely your average boy next door...just with less charisma that makes me emit a "glow".

I bet you're thinking: you're an actor. Why's your confidence down the drain? Where's that glow then?

To tell you guys the truth, it's 'cause I'm scared to death of rejection AND performing in front of millions upon millions of guys that'll judge me.

Ah, education.

"30 bucks, kid."

I blinked once out the window before turning to the driver's side where the taxi driver was holding out his hand to me, twitching his fingers impatiently. I did a mental eye-roll moment and dug into my pocket, pulling out a twenty and a ten that I intentionally shoved into his fat palm. He grunted at me, unlocked the doors and let his car spit me out on the sidewalk, right in front of this soft yellow building that looked about 8 stories high.

Holding onto my messenger bag strap, I squinted up at the top windows where I could barely see shadows moving with animated style behind the curtains.

"Oy, kid! Get yer stuff outta my taxi before I drive off with 'em, you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." I quickly responded and stumbled over to the trunk, yanking out my Disney themed luggage that my mom _forced me_ into packing because it held the most "memories". Dad said that it would bring me good luck. Yeah, I'd need all the luck I could get out here by myself.

The driver adjusted the badge on his shirt that read "Hello, my name is Cid", nodded his head curtly at me then slammed the door. Next thing I knew there was a cloud of burned rubber wafting in my face and his car had taken off down the cracked road. I turned the large headphones around my neck then flipped him the bird.

I'm just an angel that way.

I took another minute to stand on the empty sidewalk, switching nervous glances between the puddles that reflected the faded blue sky and the front door at the top of the stairs that looked _crazy_ far away. My first thought was to unzip my luggage and bury myself in it, just thinking that some dump truck would past by and toss me inside. But...realizing that I rather liked the cologne I was wearing, I picked myself up and extremely slowly dragged me and my bags to the stairs.

The sign above the door read _Hallow Bastion School of Film_ in some fancy cursive font. As welcoming as that was meant to be, I just wasn't feeling the love right now. In my gut I had the typical butterfly moment going on. Suddenly, the butterflies made me take a step back and I stared blankly at the gold handle sitting in front of me.

Stupid Roxas, just grab the damn thing! It's only, what, two inches away from your fingers? What're you doing? Crying about it? No way in hell are you going back on that smelly train for Twilight Town. Mommy and daddy aren't gonna stay mommy and daddy for long, ya know. Besides, you'll drop dead if you have to lug around Mickey Mouse down the street again.

Conscious still playing with me, I swallowed and twitched my fingers up to the handle, only grabbing it on an impulse when it suddenly swung open.

"Sh-shi--!" I quickly bit down on my tongue, not much interested in dooming my first impression, and leaned forward with my feet out the door and my head pressed softly against _someone's_ chest. I was still gripping onto the doorknob. "Er, s-sorry about that." Smooth...

"Hm? Oh, you're fine, just fine. New student I take it?"

My cheeks tingled and I swore that my eyes glued open for the longest time. It wasn't until I realized that I'd been staying in that position for too long that I stumbled over my words and finally pulled my head out of the nice lady. My, what nice—er—boobs you have? No, just shut up. That's not gonna fix anything. Ugh, now she was gonna make me out to be a perve...!

"Uh, y-yeah! I'm taking that 8 week course..." I trailed off as I stared at her, surprised that she was at least a couple inches taller than me and that she didn't look anywhere near slapping me. Her dark brown, nearly black hair fell in neatly cut layers at her shoulders and her eyes were huge and brown, staring right back at me like some owl. She was wearing all black; black dress shirt and black slacks. "What about you?"

She cocked her head. "Excuse me?" she asked innocently.

I lowered my hand from behind my head. "Which course are you taking?" Well, I _thought_ that was easy enough of a topic to start. That would make her my first friend here, anyway. But when she started giggling about it I figured that all I'd done was point out a zit on my face. "Uh..."

"I'm not a _student_. I run this school, hun." She gently raised a small hand to me and I edgily took it in mine, blushing from ear to ear. Boy, she was confident. "I'm Mrs. Lockhart. Since you're taking the 8 week course you should be seeing me a lot on scene." When she let go of my hand, she spun around, flicking her thick hair in my face, and motioned me to follow her with a light flip of her fingers.

I straightened up, grabbed my bag and followed her further into the large, yellow entrance room that was covered from 10 foot wall to 10 foot wall with posters and photos, some autographed by the actors in them. We swiveled through a couple of seating areas and that was when the students started showing their faces. I barely noticed that they were ogling my Mickey Mouse bag rather than me.

She finally stopped in front of a spiral staircase toward the end of a short hallway covered in movie paraphernalia. I just got the chance to skim through a journal on Steven Spielberg before she happily clung onto my right arm and pulled me up beside her in front of the silver steps. I just eyed them with eyebrows raised.

"Well, this is where you'll be staying for the next few weeks. Just go up these stairs and they'll take you right to a loft with a couple of doors. There should be one with your name on it somewhere." Her manicured nails dug into my back when she pushed me toward the first step. I reached out and grabbed onto the cold railing.

"Just up here?" I asked as my voice cracked. Ugh, puberty.

She nodded with a smile and half turned back down the hall. "I'll be in my office checking you in...Sorry, I forgot to get your name."

"It's Roxas," I replied with a weak smile of my own. As if she noticed the weak part of it, she gingerly tapped her finger in my direction, shaking her head slowly.

"Keep acting like that and you'll never get any better with what I've got in store for you, Roxas." And before I could ask, she spun back around and casually disappeared around the deep yellow wall. I only watched the spot where she'd gone for a second before I shrugged it off and started ascending the steps. I had the feeling that the picture of a flirty Marilyn Monroe was fluffily laughing at me while I passed it.

If Mrs. Lockhart could read me that easily then I wouldn't last here longer than a heartbeat!

As far as I could tell, I was still screwed.

* * *

_No sooner met but they looked; no sooner looked but they loved..._

* * *

"_No, no Roderick! Roderick, you can't leave me!"_

"_What don't you understand, Kathleen, huh?! What's so difficult about—"_

"_BUT YOU JUST CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE! I'M CARRYING YOUR BABY! __**YOUR**__ BABY, RODERICK!"_

"_That baby's not mine! I KNOW you've been sleeping around with him!"  
_

"_Who? WHO?!"_

"_Wi—"_

In a snap, Roderick and Kathleen faded back into the screen and there was a sudden mix of both happy sighs and disappointed groans. I joined in with the happy people and sat upright in my red plush theater chair as Mrs. Lockhart trudged across the stage, pushing the ancient television set off to the side of the grey and formally polished stage. As soon as the TV creaked to a stop, all the students became quiet and all eyes followed Mrs. Lockhart move back to the center of the stage with her arms crossed.

She took a second to adjust the glasses sitting on her noise then peered down at each and every one of us with glowing eyes. I shrank in my seat when she looked my way.

"Who can tell me their personal critique on that particular snippet? Anything right, anything wrong?" Even before she ended her first question, tons of hands shot up in the air and one even flipped against the back of my head. I kept my hand down and twiddled the pencil over the notebook in my lap. Er...how about it flat out sucked? Would that be an honest opinion?

"Ah...you, in the back."

"_Well, the girl was pretty much overacting."_

"Good, good." She nodded and pointed to another person, the one that had flipped my hair earlier.

"_I thought that her acting was overpowering the guy's. You know, he could've stepped it up since they were in an argument. It would've made it better if they added more dialogue before leading up to the baby issue, right?"_

"Hm, more dialogue...ah, yeah, you right next to her. What're your thoughts?"

The unknown person cleared their throat and after feeling the seats behind me dip, I had a feeling that they'd just rested their feet on one of the seats in front. Sure enough, when I looked to my left I spotted two purple, mud stained and ripped Vans folded over each other. The guy with the fauxhawk sitting in that seat leaned forward and mumbled something to the floor.

"_To be perfectly honest with ya...it felt just fine."_

Mrs. Lockhart's face twisted; one thin eyebrow rising and her lips pursing. If she wasn't the responsible teacher I was pretty sure she would've broke out in a swearing argument. "Oh? How so?" She raised a hand to her chin and cupped it in thought.

I still had an eye on the guy's shoes when they gently wiggled and sent flakes of dried mud down the fawxhawk dude's jacket. I would've laughed, but since no one else did I stayed as the matured adult and sat watching and listening to the first guy's slick voice. I couldn't figure out _why_ I hadn't turned around to look at him. I tried imagining him wearing a completely mud splattered outfit with flies hovering around him. As appetizing as that sounds...NO.

"_How? Look, it's human reaction, right? You're caught in the moment and certain words just happen to spill out like hell. You can't expect the words to be all long and direct; it'll be way too scripted. So, it's fair. I'd give it a 3 and a half star."_

Wow, sounds like a smart ass if I ever saw one.

With Jiminy Cricket tittering something right in my ear, I pretended to see something I liked in the ceiling and ended up glancing over my shoulder ever-so slowly.

"...go through our first practice! Everyone up on the stage now!"

Before I had the chance to even so much as see the color of the guy's skin, the sound of shuffling feet and bouncing theater chairs snapped me back and I turned back around to stand up with my clipboard in hand. Damn cricket...I blame Disney for most of my misery.

I quickly made it up to the stairs along with a couple more of the students taking the same course. We all skipped up the steps, most of the girls purposely tripping so us guys could grab them (I let one fall on purpose), and gathered around in a sloppy circle around Mrs. Lockhart. She temporarily looked around at all of us before swishing her arms to the side and making us lineup against the red curtain behind us.

Shit. Facing those empty seats, under those damn lights...now that I think about it, running back home to mommy would've worked out nicely. It was only a passing thought and Mrs. Lockhart quickly zapped it out of my mind with a clap of her hands.

"Alright!" she yelled with enough force to make it echo off the walls. I jumped and looked away when everyone else just stood there. Why do I have to be the special snowflake? Snowflakes weren't meant to be under stage lights, that's for sure.

"Today I'll be prepping you guys up imm_ediately_. Seeing as you picked the one of the longest term classes, I'll be spending the most time with you to really make sure that the lessons sink into your heads. Is that understood?" The group let out random 'yes's'. "Is that understood?" This time everyone screeched and soon our voices bounced throughout the large forest of red seats below us.

"You'll need to speak out if you're acting up on stage!" Mrs. Lockhart backed up and abruptly thrust a finger behind her to the seats. "See that? More than 12 rows of seats! The poor old people will need to be able to here your beautiful voices!" With that joke, she clapped her hands together for the umpteenth time and happily turned her head to eye all us down.

Who was she, Asian Barbie?

"Think of it, all the great actors started out in places like this. So you being here is..."

But I barely paid attention to the lecture. All I was really fixated on was the height of the ceiling over my head, black and covered in wires, lights and ropes of all shapes and sizes. Even the curtain flowing behind us looked like it was breathing like some boogieman. Why did everything in this world have to be so intimidating?

"Alright, I need two lines! Two lines right here!"

"Huh?" I gasped and stupidly searched around the room as the flood of people flew past each other and started positioning themselves in the center of the stage. I jumped up on my toes and, pretending to know what I'd been doing, followed one girl into her line.

"There, right there. Ok, good. You guys catch on fast, don't you?" Mrs. Lockhart giggled to us in a kindergarten teacher voice then cleared her throat to return to threatening Barbie mode. I clutched onto my clipboard while she began walking in between the two lines. Then, right when she passed me, my eyes did a double take and I was staring forward at who I thought had to be the most gorgeous person on the stage.

And when Shakespeare said that all the world's a stage, that had to mean that this person was the most gorgeous person on the face of the earth.

Now, this, this is where the middle begins. Remember when I said that we'll revolve around a certain event? Well, that event is now. Pay attention to details.

And so, once upon a time I was just a shivering nut, literally melting under hot stage lights and hundreds of invisible eyes. Then, insert prince charming. Yes, that's _prince_ not princ_ess_. _He_ showed up in front of me, a tight white tank top, baggy khakis and a pair of muddy, purple Vans on his feet. It wasn't a crown and noble steed, but hey, he had the prince vibe.

I felt like I'd been dropped into one of those slow motion sequences in the movies where the girl sees the guy she likes for the first time; love at first sight. I stared breathlessly at his venom eyes which were half shut as they peered at the suddenly non-existent teacher then blinked while turning my way. A smile, a nod then a wave. Sold.

"Look at the person in front of you," Mrs. Lockhart's voice broke through my barrier of concentration and I shook my head just as the birds started singing _Lovin' You_ and the spotlight focused solely on Mr. Perfection, insane red hair and all. Oh, I was definitely looking.

"Now this person will remain as your practice partner for the remainder of the week. You will switch over the course of these 8 weeks, but for now what I want you to do is go over the script I gave you with your partner and exchange your lines with the best of your ability." Then, with a jaunty flip of her long fingers, Mrs. Lockhart sent the two lines in separate directions across the stage. I just stood there and so did he, staring back at me with an emotion I just couldn't pinpoint.

How can he be so _thin_? What's worse, how can he be that _tall_? He had to be at least a full foot taller than me which meant for sure that I could be seen as a chair in his mind. Just in the way he glowered at things proved that he obviously was a bad boy and a bully. I quickly got all defensive as he was the first to take a muddy step in my direction.

"Name?" he asked, crossing his toned arms over his just as equally toned chest. I eyeballed the little shot of his shoulder blades before answering.

"Uh...R-Roxas. My name's Roxas."

He smiled confidently my way, making the stage overflow with heat, and clapped a steady hand on my right shoulder. I slumped at the sudden weight and squinted at him in front of the color changing light. I just realized that there were two upside down tear drop shaped tattoos under each one of his eyes and there was something like a heart shaped, silver stud earring on his left ear.

"Well, Roxas," he began while walking us over to a dark corner of the stage. He sat both of us down beside the dusty grand piano where I curled my knees up to my chest on the bench and he sat on top of it, one leg dangling to the floor and the other pulled to his chin. "How do you feel about playing the girl?"

I felt a blush coming on, racing up from the tip of one ear to the other. "Girl?" Me...in a dress...squeaky voice...? Let's think...

He laughed huskily and leaned back with the script lying against his stomach. I gulped, probably too loudly since he locked his eyes on me and cutely cocked his head as if asking the million dollar question. _You like_? Oh, no, no...ANYTHING but that question. No, Roxas doesn't like. Roxas-do-not-like...

I ended up losing myself in the crumpled script below me as I held it with sweaty palms.

"Romeo."

"Huh?" I asked quietly to that sudden word. I looked up at him just as the spotlight seemed to obsess over his body again.

He shook his script lightly with a chuckle. "Romeo, I thought we went over this." He suddenly shifted his body and sat up on his knees, making the piano creak and moan below him. "See, this commitment was only meant to be about _you_ and _me_." He then gestured his hands from me to his chest. I just sat there, feeling a smile tug on the corner of my lips. He's crazy! "You promised that you wouldn't drag your mother into this house the _second_ we moved in. Now look! I can't handle it, especially with this baby on the way!"

After he gave the most believable, staged groan I'd even heard, he flopped on his back on the piano as if it'd been a mattress, his head dangling over the keys so he could stare at me upside down. I immediately pictured a desperate housewife. If he was such a pro, why was he here? He could even play the woman!

Pulling up another smirk, he peered down at me and turned on his side. "Well?"

"Well..." I stopped, glancing once at the script then added with a staged sigh, "Juliet...here's what I think..."

I think Romeo like. Romeo like very much.

* * *

_When I __saw__ you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew._

* * *

And, just like that, I made my first friend at that school. Didn't seem that major? Oh, indeed it was major. Not only had I made a friend, I'd actually found somewhat of a crush, I guess you could say. Alright, so I'm not fully admitting to that just _yet_, ok? I'm still in the deep end when it comes to how I swing. Considering the fact that I can't find inspiration in anything or anyone else, it has to mean that I like him even the eensy, weensiest bit.

The first week of acting school flew by in a heartbeat. And, much against what I'd imagined, I'd survived from my coaches' judgment. I'd been spending most of my time in my dorm room, trying to practice fake crying while some guy's heavy metal went banging on the opposite wall. I was surprised that _that_ hadn't made me cry on the spot...

I'd still been practicing on stage with "Juliet" as the week went on. Why call him Juliet? Well...here's the thing..._I never got his name_. It's either I'm too shy to ask or he's just not willing to tell me. And if that second guess is true, then there's no way in hell that he's interested in me. Pretty soon, the 7 days we were together came to a depressing close and as far as I was concerned, I wouldn't be able to act without him.

The fact was: he was the only person that didn't care much if I missed a line or couldn't fake cry. He just laughed it off in that same droned, hot laugh, and let me resolve the issue on my own. And each time we practiced, we claimed the piano as our little spot. Pretty soon, the dust on it started fading. He offered to meet up with me for extra acting time during our lunch breaks, even if we didn't _really _study or eat at that.

And whadayaknow? I seriously thought I could've been _in love_.

All the behavior traits started to add up to love. And when I'm in a heart filled moment, I can be a natural fluff ball. I just couldn't show _him_ that, right?

But strangely, I had a feeling that he knew...

"Yo, Roxas!"

I looked up from the script I'd been looking over and turned my head to the left where he came into full view, dressed in black polo and paint flecked jeans. I scooted over when he sat himself down beside me on the upper stair of the stage. "Hey, what's up?"

He rested his arms over his knees and gazed out at the empty seats. "Just thought I'd let you know how awesome a week it's been, you know?" Quickly, he reverted his eyes to me and for a second I thought I saw them fill with regret. "It's a shame we had to split up."

I nibbled on my bottom lip and stared down at my untied shoelace absently. "Yeah. Yeah it is. But you heard what Mrs. Lockhart said."

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I know." I watched him closely when he ruffled up his untamed spikes and scoffed with a smirk playing in between. "We need more experience with different actors." That's when he suddenly paused with a dull spark coming to one of his eyes. Good or bad? I couldn't tell. To answer my question, he turned back to me and whispered really close to my ear, "Between you and me, I'd rather work with you since you've got serious potential. I like you. And if you ask me, it's better to work with people you like instead of a room of bastards."

"Think so?" I leaned back in shock. Shoot...that stupid blush was coming on again.

But before he could open his mouth to answer, there was this annoying tapping sound behind us on the stage. My eyes widened and both of us looked over our shoulders to see Mrs. Lockhart rapping a pencil against a black music stand. Everyone that'd been sitting around "practicing" shut up. Why was it that she had to ruin all _our_ special moments?

"Guys, guys, pay attention!" she called out, not bothering to look up from her music stand. "Listen, now I know this might seem a little rushed to you, but being the second week of your classes, _and_ considering the fact that you guys are in college, you should be able to handle a little assignment, right? _Right_?"

"Yes, ma'am..." My ex-partner griped beside my ear, chuckling after. I nudged him in the side, still finding that funny even though it wasn't supposed to be.

"Roxas."

Oh, crap.

"Yes?" I squeaked and all eyes turned to me.

"You look like you're more than excited to start, aren't you?" Ok, so even when she said that in the best baby voice she could, I kept in mind that she was in an _acting _school. If she wasn't a pile of plastic then I don't know what is.

I bowed my head apologetically. "Erm...sure."

"That's the spirit!" With that, she slapped a hand atop her music stand and held in her arms a pile of different colored papers. She walked around the stand then around the stage to each of the students who accepted it from her with that teacher's-pet smile. By the time she came to me, though, she flipped through the stack, pulled out two pink papers and handed the rest to the last of the students except for me and...what ever his name was.

After her paper route was done with, Mrs. Lockhart held the two pink papers in between two French-tipped fingers. I just locked eyes with both of them, constantly swallowing down this morning's breakfast that decided it wanted to find out what was going on.

"So what I've just handed to all of you are the instructions for this assignment. The color of the paper that you got should match with either one or two people in the room. I want all of you to pair up with those people and start discussing." As soon as she mentioned 'I want', there was a mass of high heels and Converse shuffling through the stage, meeting up with each other. All the high heels giggled and all the Converse stood there while they were being brushed up against.

Us? Oh...our Vans are just hangin' out...

"_You_ two," Mrs. Lockhart called out as she strode up to the stairs. Juliet and I glanced up at her and she crouched down, happily handing out the two pink slips as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She pulled on a smile, her eyes disappearing, and said, "That makes you two partners."

"What?!" I bust out, quickly clicking my teeth together after. Oh, _that's_ the way, Roxas! Just go on showing your approval! He'll for sure crush back on you, right? I mean, lookit him. No, no, don't look at him; it'll just make your heart sink. What if he's glaring at you by now? I'm not the greatest flirt. Man, at this rate I'd die a virgin...

Why did I just think that?

"I-I mean—"

"See, Roxas," she quietly tapped my on the wrist, "Axel's one of my best students so far. He's actually been here a couple of times for one week training. Isn't that right, Axel?"

Then it suddenly occurred to me: I had a name. A freakin' name! All the nerves and thoughts in my head did a quick victory dance. And his name was Axel, not Juliet. So long as I had the guy's name I figured that I'd be able to face him properly without calling him 'you'. By the end of these 8 weeks, I _had_ to be the perfect Romeo. Hm, actually, maybe I should switch our identities.

"Guess you could say that," Axel politely replied, returning the smile that Mrs. Lockhart had been giving. I caught him looking my way and I forced myself to look back, even though my heart was racing and my face was like a cherry tomato.

"I'll expect that he'll take good care of you, Roxas. Looks like the remainder of these classes you guys are gonna stick together. You should feel pretty special. No problem, hm?" She stood up, brushed off her jeans then backed away. Oh, man, I wish she didn't. I would've grabbed her jeans to pull her back, actually. I was suddenly feeling nervous all over again.

"No problem," Axel nodded at her then scooted in so close to me that our hips bumped together.

And no matter how hard I tried searching for Jiminy on my shoulder, he'd gone into hiding and something told me that giving a little whistle wouldn't bring him back. Sorry, buddy. This one's all yours.

* * *

_A false face has to __hide__ what a false heart knows. There's your problem._

* * *

"Alright, alright, so get this. Hey, you watching? Helloo?"

"Yes, yes, I'm listening! Geez, I can't be quiet for two seconds without you getting bored." I slowly raised a hand up to my face then swiftly swatted away Axel's hand. He'd been waving it in my face each time I spaced out listening to his rambling. Ever since I'd figured out his name, he wouldn't' stop pestering me. It was like I was his personal punching bag; the target practice for his own entertainment.

See, there're two things when it comes to falling in love. When you're _not_ in love, it's like everyone around you _is_. Everywhere you look there's a couple dancing in the rain while all you're doing is standing in it, being honked at by a taxi as you cross the street. Next thing you know, there's another couple at the end of the crosswalk, kissing in a phone booth and _another_ cuddling by a dumpster. No matter where you go, there's love no matter what the situation or place. That was my situation before I came here.

Second thing about love, when you _are_ in love, sometimes you admit to wanting _out_. See, it's already the middle of the 2nd week and, no matter what I try to do to ignore it I keep getting into that hammer-to-nail mode. Sure, Axel's a great guy. I even admit to idolizing him! But once you get him started with the friendship, it's a snowball that'll never stop rolling. Now, now I'm in _this_ condition and I can't find it in me to give up.

Axel's too good a crush to dump.

"So here's what we do..." Axel said as he turned his back on me to the red curtain behind the piano. "Drama, romance, action...it's the perfect combination!" He shot his arms out as if he was presenting himself before an invisible audience. I could tell he could already hear the applause ringing in that huge head of his.

I rolled my eyes before he looked back my way. "I'm pretty sure you can't combine all that. Friends mixed with A Walk to Remember _and_ Mission Impossible."

"All _three _Mission Impossibles." He held out three boney fingers to me with extreme confidence.

"Oh, and I bet all the 236 episodes of Friends, too?"

"How do _you _know how many--?"

"DON'T...ask." I hastily raised a hand, embarrassed how I _did_ know how many episodes of Friends there were, and crossed my legs on the piano bench. "Look, it just sounds like a lot to film in the next 5 weeks. Add that on top of all the stage time Mrs. Lockhart's giving us—"

"Dilly dally shilly shally..."

I stared at him like he'd just insulted my mother. "Excuse me?"

Axel sighed and looked with an angle up at the ceiling. With arms crossed he shook his head and gave me a naive look. "Means that you're just making pathetic excuses, Rox. Dilly dally shilly shally." He bobbed his head after saying the 'dilly dally' part.

"I am not--!"

"Ah, ah," he interrupted with a raised finger. "Best student so far, _re-mem-ber_?"

I pretended not to and turned back to the plans we'd written out on some lined paper that I'd laid out on the piano keys. So far we had the basic theme down, character names and even some dialogue put in. And so far, I'd been doing most of the writing. Axel just stood there, either running up and down the stage, acting the parts out beside himself, or jumping up on the poor piano that still creaked when he did.

What'd the piano ever do to you?

I shook my head while he started plotting thoughts in the ceiling again and scribbled down ideas before they left my head. "So here's what we've got..." I paused to hold the paper up to my face. Axel's eyes glanced over to me as he leaned casually against the middle curve of the piano.

"We've got the main character, A.J who's smooth and lacks self-discipline..._aka you_," I muttered that last part, but all Axel did was smirk and shut his eyes as if to be taking in all the info. I started up again.

"Then we've got the bad guy, Zak who's after A.J in the beginning of the clip. Even though we don't see his face we just know from A.J what he's up against. And, uh...somewhere along the way we meet up with A.J's girlfriend, Rae who's this defensive girl and is normally protective when it comes to A.J. He hasn't told her about the guy that's after him 'cause he's afraid he'll worry her...am I going too fast for you?"

"No, no, you're doin' great," Axel replied with his eyes still shut.

"Ok...anyway, towards the end Zak and A.J get in this brawl..." I slapped the paper face down over the piano keys, making them break out in random notes that seemed to wake Axel up. He looked around the stage before staring at me with one eye half closed.

"What? That's it?"

"Well, _yeah_. You didn't tell me what you want the rest to be now that you've decided on romance and drama. We've got the action at the end and the suspense in the beginning, but other than his girlfriend...we're screwed." I seemed to be using that line a lot lately.

Shrugging my comment off, Axel stood up and slowly began walking over to where I was sitting. I pretended I didn't notice and glared at the paper, only really feeling him there when his shadow spread out over the paper. Even just looking at his shadow made me go crazy. I could feel his heat, him breathing and even hear his heart beating beside my ear. I just couldn't help but concentrate on solely _him_.I started to bounce my leg nervously, being careful not to bang the keys.

"I've got something in mind." His shadow raised an arm and tapped a finger against the side of his head. Sigh.

I looked at him at an angle, squinting a bit because of the stage lights, and waited. "And?"

"And..." Without even warning me, he reached down and swept the papers up in his hands where he carried them all the way to the side of the stage. I nearly got up and chased him for them, but seeing that he was in the position to rip them, I stopped and just planted my feet on the stage floor. "And I'm not gonna tell you 'till we shoot, fair? Let's call it a day for now."

As I watched him and his curvy hips swing happily away backstage, I clung onto the edge of my seat with second thoughts coming into clear view. For one thing: coming here. For another: taking this course. Another: standing across from him in that line. And lastly: agreeing to play A.J's girlfriend for our project.

Hello, my name's Rae/Romeo/Roxas/Douche bag, and you are?

* * *

_Love comforts like sunshine after rain._

* * *

Male 1: You know something, Lina?

Female 1: What's that, Don?

Male 1: There's gotta be something about the weather that's making you hate me, right?

Female 1: -sigh- There you go again...same old excuse. You know the reason why I'm mad is—

Male 1: -skip down sidewalk- I'm not listening to that. It's definitely the weather. And even though it's pissing you off it's just making me wanna...well...

Female 1: Wanna what?

Male 1: -hug street pole-

Female 1: What do you think you're doing?!

Male 1: I'm..._singin' in the rain, just singin' in the rain..._

Wow. Whoever came up with the idea of combining a 50's musical with the new millennium must've had one booze-filled night. It's like that one show on Disney channel: _High School Musical_.Can't stand it. The way I see it, some things were meant to stay in the past. There's just no question about it. Whether it's a song or a relationship, there's always a time to move on, ya know? _This_ is no exception.

I decided to play along and watch from the sidelines as Mrs. Lockhart swept her arms in front of her, directing the two actors on stage as they twirled and read their scripts aloud. Being on the sidelines, I was forced to read along with Male 1 and Female 1, aka. Axel and some girl named Selphie, a brunette girl that had to be the first person shorter than me. If I didn't know any better I'd say that she was a pole dressed in a yellow sun dress; skinnier than heck.

"Ok, ok, that'll do," Mrs. Lockhart exclaimed and immediately Axel paused in the middle of his musical number and Selphie spun around toward the rest of us, blushing profusely. I only followed her walk my way for a bit since I was more concentrated on Axel and how in the heck he could pull off any, and I mean _any_ sort of character he pleased. It was like he was programmed the minute he held that script and read those lines. I swear, if he had the opportunity to dance in a leotard on stage, he'd take it.

"Well done, Axel. Now that was just the first run we had with this musical, guys." Mrs. Lockhart quickly pushed her long hair over one shoulder and patted Axel on the back as he walked right passed her and stopped behind me in the shadows of the stage curtain.

Is it me or is he breathing down my neck?

"For the next few weeks we'll be practicing more of the dialogue in this musical along with some snippets from new and old movies. And just to keep you informed..." She glanced up at the ceiling, muttering something about 'oh, yeah, we can do that' and 'no one'll get injured', and then looked back down at us boldly.

"On the last week you guys're here, we'll be acting out the scene you just saw, but we're gonna incorporate _everything_. Lights, cameras, makeup, costumes and even rain."

Millions of squealy girls broke the sound barrier when they heard that and even some of the guys high fived and whooped about it. To be honest, that sounded perfect and I accepted a high five from the fawxhawk guy standing next to me. But while I was laughing with the others, something just felt outta place. Abruptly, I stopped, feeling singled out from the happy, and didn't bother to look behind me until last second.

There was Axel, standing in what looked like the deep end. It looked like he'd backed up further into the shadows behind me and his face, normally graffitied on with smugness and dominance, was turned down to his feet. He was vaguely biting the corner of his lip when I looked close enough. Worriedly, I inched a hand out to him, but he soon looked up and I chickened out.

"Ok, guys! You all have the script now I want you to get to practicing! Remember to pace yourselves with that project too, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am!" All the students blurted out in sync and no sooner had I blinked did they all file off the stage and down the stairs where the dorm rooms were waiting. The only problem was, I wasn't alone. Sure, Mrs. Lockhart hadn't left until a while later, but Axel was still standing in the same place he'd been since he stopped singing in the rain.

Speaking of rain...

I reached a hand behind my head and ruffled up my hair as I took a step further into the darkness as if I was heading toward a shivering zoo animal. Ok, since _when_ did I switch personalities with Axel? _Axel_ out of all people! So he could pull off being pissed, giddy and even love struck but when he showed his puppy face, the whole world just fell down. No one was clapping, not even me. That's when I figured that this wasn't acting at all.

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked quietly.

He blinked and looked up at me; his sharp eyes slimmed down halfway. A smile tugged on his lips and stayed there while he stepped out of his sanctuary in the curtains and offered the "hand" I was holding out to him. He stopped when we were only about a step away from each other.

"Well," he started, drooping his head so low that if I looked up we would've..._you know_...kissed or something. "...I'm not happy-go-lucky about _rain_." He seemed to cringe on the word and I had to hold my breath to keep from laughing out loud. Him? Afraid of water? When was Axel afraid of anything? Ok, so I'd only known him for almost two weeks, but he'd told me enough (a lot, actually) for me to paint a basic picture of who he was.

I shifted my head away from under him and raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Are you-are you serious?"

When he shrugged, lifting his eyes, I knew that wasn't a joke...and the guy was full of jokes.

"What're you gonna do? Mrs. Lockhart wanted you to be Don in that part we're practicing, you know."

With reality crashing down on him, Axel slumped forward, slapped a hand over his eyes and dragged it down, stretching his face out comically. I giggled, _giggled_ as in like a girl, and hugged the black portfolio I'd been holding.

"Yeah, I know, but I'm just not cut out to 'frolic' in rain. Been that way since I was a kid."

"So you're just gonna drop out."

"No." He answered that so quickly it was like he'd been planning it. For a minute he tapped his foot impatiently on the stage while twiddling with the corner of his blue striped polo _and_ whistling Yankee Doodle at the same time. Coming from me, when people multitask, it means they're in deep shit.

Walking toward him, I sighed upward to my bangs heavily (on purpose so he'd look at me), and before I headed for the stairs, stopped right beside him. When I looked at him, he wasn't the same as I'd seen him only a second ago. No, it wasn't the fact that the stage light had turned pink and it wasn't the fact that I felt like I'd shrunk. It was just..._the way _he looked at me...I dunno.

His lips were parted and his eyes, still slits, were staring unblinking into my face. I wondered if he was trying to read me, scare me even. But no matter what I thought about running, I didn't and glued my feet to the floor. And you know...I looked right back. His smooth skin, the perfect curves in his body; arms, legs, _butt _even...it's all too perfect. There was always something past that bad boy image he had. A teddy bear, I guess. Just a sweet guy, really. And the thing is, he only shows that side _to me_.

"Axel," I said in a hushed voice. It felt weird having his name trill off my tongue like that and I shivered when it happened. I'd just never said his name like _that_ before.

His face didn't change so I continued.

"I'll help you, 'kay? With your rain problem, I mean." When I mentioned rain that time, he stayed put. No multitasking, no smiling...just him. I would've been scared, sure. This wasn't normal for him. Was he sick? I know I was. This might sound corny, but I was feeling sorta love sick. Yes, I said it. Love sick.

After that moment of silence, he nodded once at me with a whispered "Sure" and I turned back to the dimmed light behind the curtain where I knew the stairs led to my room. I had to be there right now. I just needed a second to think...a second to...to...

"_Roxas_."

"Huh?" I froze in the middle of my walk and the darkness around me literally started to hold me down in place. And despite the fact that the gentle breeze from the AC was flying past my face, I felt hot all over. Something was on my shoulder but I was just too drawn into my body's feeling to look. If this wasn't the Twilight Zone then I don't know what is.

"...Thanks." Soon he was walking around me, dropping his slender hand from my shoulder with as much slow motion as possible. He then turned the corner and bounded off down the stairs in an echo of footsteps. I just stood there feeling like nothing but the only one in a standing ovation. If what he just did was acting, he was too good to be true.

* * *

_I've ordered some __**rain**__ for tomorrow  
__The __**sky**__ will be sunny but __**wet  
**__And out of nowhere you're suddenly __**there  
**__And I say yeah, pardon me __**haven't we met**_

_I've ordered some __**sunshine**__ with __**showers  
**__And I've got my __**scenery**__ set  
__Right there with the thought our __**umbrellas**__ gonna __**bump  
**__And I say yeah, yeah, pardon me __**haven't we met**_

_**Accidents**__ can happen  
__And into one I'm gonna __**slide  
**__There's a good chance to give my hands on __**a**__**little romance  
**__When __**two hearts collide**_

_And I know that's just how it happened  
__When __**Romeo**__ met __**Juliet  
**__Somewhere I've read that old Romeo said  
__**Pardon me haven't we met?**_

* * *

Out of all places to practice...out of all the glorious, happy-bunny, Candy Land places to be...I chose _here_. Way-to-go-Roxas. Or would you prefer to go as 'Douche bag' from now on? That sounds reasonable enough. And just like that I was starting to lose all trust in myself.

Let's time travel for a second:

So I said that I'd help Axel with his rain phobia. It wasn't _really_ a phobia; he just happened to hate it beyond reason, sorta like a cat that refuses to get in the bath. Well, after some thinking and imagining Axel with cat ears and a tail, I came up with the idea of taking him to a secluded outdoors place where we could practice, preferably near a place with a sprinkler system.

So as soon as I thought of it, I did my research and pinpointed this community park beside the town square which was about 5 blocks from where the school was. The fawxhawk guy that was in the dorm next to me often went there for basketball practice in his spare time so I pretty much trusted the place when he came back in one piece. Sweaty...but in one piece.

Lucky for me and Axel the park had a sprinkler system that went off at sundown of everyday; around 5:30. That meant he could dance in the "rain" without, well, dancing in the rain. Sounds like a plan, right? Mm-hm, yeah. Right.

Turns out that we had so much practicing going on that we didn't even get the chance to nudge our butts in the park's general direction. I mean, come on! The place was only _5 buildings away_. How difficult can Mrs. Lockhart get? We didn't _need_ to sing _I Just can Wait to be King_ and we for sure didn't have to practice lines like "oh, Jonathan" or "I love you so much". I didn't sign up for this thing to become the next Desperate Housewife.

By the time the 7th week , that's damn right, _7__th __week _of school came , the tests, the papers and the stage time finally shrank. While everyone else in our course had either started on the credits or even _finished_ their credits in their movie, Axel and I were still stuck on the very last part of our film...

...and I can't say I'm happy to find out what he's got planned.

Now let's take a few steps forward:

The whether outside was just starting to get colder and colder by the minute, and it was the middle of summer, for goodness sake. I was already singing _Let it Snow_. But if I had to stay out here to help a friend, one that I was pretty desperate on upgrading from 'friend' to something else, I'd have to tolerate it. And so, breath coming out in strangled puffs, I stood on the dewy grass, looking across the sidewalk where Axel _should've_ showed up 20 minutes ago.

Did he want my fuckin' help or not?

"Ugh, he'll never show up..." I grumbled while gazing up at the orange and purple cotton balls in the graying sky. It wasn't normal for Hallow Bastion to undergo rain during this time of year so when I spotted the darkness in those clouds, I started getting iffy all over.

Then, out of some random abyss, my prayers were answered.

"_Roxxxasss!"_

"Where've _you_ been?!" I yelled out to the speck of red running across the street to meet me. Axel didn't bother with the general rule of looking both ways before crossing the street and instead did a comedic J-walk that made me twitch. Fortunately he flew across with ease, slipping only once, and stopped in front of me, leaning over his knees and panting into the cold air.

He was wearing a white shirt with sleeves that feel just over his elbows. Printed on the front were faded blue ink spatter designs. As he straightened up again, I got a better view of the black collar tied around his neck; silver studs were arranged evenly around it, dully sparkling under what remained of the "summer" day.

"Just...getting...my stuff...together...was all," he panted with his trademark smirk.

Every time he smiled I couldn't help but feel for him so, like every other time, I smiled back, pathetically sighed and then let Axel be Axel.

"Fine," I began while eying the folded script we put together in his right hand. That's right we're _multitasking_; filming our project and practicing for the rain demo at the same time. I guess that means were in deep shit right now. Goody...and I just took a bath. "Here, open that up a sec, will ya?"

He immediately drew himself together and flipped the papers open to the first page, glancing through it once before folding it over again. "Got it."

"You memorized it already?"

"Pft. Well, _duh_. _I'm_ the one that came up with the idea, Roxas."

"If you just _told_ me—"

"Is it such a bad thing that I wanted it to be a surprise?"

Right when I opened my mouth to speak, this flash of white flew into my face and I panicked, flipping my hands in front of me for the nearest object to grab. When I touched the thing, I pulled it away and looked down, seeing that it was nothing but my own copy of Axel's script. I was about to flip to the first page before his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, holding it firmly in midair.

He...was...holding me..._grabbing me_. Oh, snap.

"What?" I asked with a light laugh. Axel's other hand lifted to his lips where he pressed his finger against them.

"You'll find out! Just flow with it and say what comes to mind. We'll work around it"

For all I knew, this thing didn't have anything written inside. And he expected me to make things up on the spot? Yeah, he can be the next Steven Spielberg if he really wanted. He'd just get fired the next day. Nice future you've got, Axel.

There was nothing but silence between the two of us. Just the faint banging of thunder and the dying laughter of kids on the swing set behind me barely managed to break through our little silence barrier. Eventually, Axel let go of my wrist and cleared his throat, beginning to walk in a rustled circle around me. In a snap, he became A.J.

With our camera set up beside this one tree and the positioning the way we wanted it, I hit record and I pretended to know what I was doing as Rae.

"And...action. Rae!" Axel unexpectedly yelled some 3 feet away from my face. I blinked, remembered I was supposed to be a girl, and wore a speechless expression for sometime. Something about Axel looking at me like that, shocked and confused, was turning me into my character on the spot.

"A.J," I said demandingly yet worriedly at the same time. "What's-going-on?"

Axel took a step back, running his fingers through his fiery spikes and stared off behind him with a bewildered look. "You shouldn't've showed up, you shouldn't've followed me!"

I took a step closer to him with my hands clenched into fists. The words started spilling out. "What was I supposed to do? You keep sneaking around and it gets me thinking about you all the time! A.J—"

"_Listen_ to me," he interrupted, sort of surprising me since I was getting into the moment. "I told you, what ever happens to me shouldn't bother—"

"But it _does_ bother me! When're you gonna understand that I..." I stole a dramatic pause that just felt so real at the time. The truth was, I just did that because I was debating on whether the next words would play right with Axel's head. I drew in a silent, deep breath, collected my thoughts and whispered, "...that I love you...?"

Even Axel looked like what I'd done was an unsuspected move, a punch right to his chest. But that only lasted for a second since a weak, disbelieving smile tugged at the left corner of his lips, slowly beginning to expose the pearly whites underneath. I nearly fainted but the thunder behind me kept me upright.

"You love me."

"Y-yes. I do," I stuttered.

Axel's arms crossed over his thin chest as his head shook to the grass then looked back up at me from a moderately low angle. I just had this feeling that he'd want to jump on me any second now, on camera or not.

"Rae, I—" It was then that I started to push away the camera and the acting. I _actually_ pushed myself into believing that what Axel and I were doing was real and what I'd just said was the million dollar statement. I just didn't expect Axel to react like that. It just didn't last long enough, to my slight disappointment.

As soon as he trailed off after saying "my name", his headshot backward like what any normal person would do to a sudden kick to the face. I panicked, jumping up on my toes, and stared at him collapse backward into the wet grass with his body heaving quickly while he panted. For a second I thought that maybe he'd had a heart attack then I figured that he could've just been acting...but _just to be sure..._

"A-Ax...A.J!" I screeched while breaking into a run after him. I skidded onto my knees, not much caring about the grass stains, and almost threw my hands over his chest until I remembered how pathetic that would feel _and_ look.

"You ok?" I whispered so quietly that the camera wouldn't hear anything. When he cracked his right eye open and winked, I gave off a huge sigh of relief that I knew just ruined the whole take.

"Get the camera, get the camera," Axel grated out while thrusting a finger to his left. I immediately got back up, dragged the camera to where we were and twitched as the lightning struck behind me. I eventually ignored it and positioned the camera lens so it was pointed down at the perfect angle to get both of us in the shot. With that over with, I hit record and slid back down into the mud.

"Hah...I knew it..."

Forgetting I was supposed to be in character, I cocked my head and asked, "Knew what?" Luckily it seemed to fit and he went on, eyes only a shake away from closing. I would've pried them open since I'm so...so obsessed with his eye color. It's true, I seriously am. Obsessions aside...

"That he'd..." he arched his back as if to be in pain and I moved my hands forward at an attempt to help him get up. I ended up resting them on his right arm instead, one dangerously close to being gripped by his hand. "...he'd pick now to kill me."

"_Kill you?!"_

"Some surprise, huh?" Axel's chest calmly rose and fell against my fingers. Combined with the cold air and the wet grass seeping into my clothes, I felt surprisingly fine. I liked feeling him moving, watching him moving too. When ever Axel proved he was alive, I sort of felt the same way. Just like that, I could've flown if I wanted. Thinking that, my right hand wandered lower against his arm and he absentmindedly squeezed my fingers together in his hand.

My head tilted while I looked at him, just looked. "Bastard," I non-threateningly whispered. "You never tell me anything, you know."

A drop of rain dotted his forehead followed by another on his cheek then another on the corner of his eye. I had this strange feeling like I wanted to wipe them away, but gravity took care of that when the drops started gathering in packs, making it impossible to stay dry. Pretty soon, the whole park was starting to drown in a slowly gathering mist of rain. I could already feel my hair drooping under it and when I shook the drops off they ended up splattering Axel all over, not like I cared...

I rather liked a wet Axel.

"Should I pack the camera?" I asked loudly so he could hear me through the rain.

He shook his head in the mud and ended up squeezing my fingers tighter. Right...we were still in school here.

"Just didn't want you to know." His voice was dropping so quickly and that just made me get paranoid. And when I'm paranoid I can be a nasty mother in a teenage boy's body. Imagine me as his _mother_! Young man, you're scaring mommy.

Seriously, he was. Something in my throat kept bobbing and I had to keep swallowing to keep it down. Even my eyes were feeling heavy, but not from the lack of sleep I'd been suffering through.

"Y-yeah, but...but what did you think? That if anything happened to you I wouldn't _care_?"

He paused like he was searching for the answer and the only thing that moved were his eyes as they shut under the thickening rain.

"Answer me!" I almost whined that, scooting in closer to him, and he just cracked a smile that I miraculously could see. Dammit, this rain. It was keeping me from not only seeing him but hearing him too. For all I knew he could've been sleeping/dead on the ground. No, no, bad thoughts. Erase, erase.

"I was just too freaked out to tell you what I was involved in. So...now you know. I've been hiding from a man that's wanted to kill me."

"Will you stop it? He's not...he didn't kill you, whoever he is!" Wow, this really was a soap opera. Suddenly, I was feeling more of the romance and drama rather than the action. I wondered when that would come into play. Then, to answer my question, Axel squeezed down so hard on my hand that it went numb and when I squinted at his faded outline in the downpour, he mumbled something like:

"It was all for you anyway..." His hand then loosened around me and his head fell to the mud around us. I froze, taking it all in, then began shaking his arm loosely while I panted over his body. What ever'd been holding itself inside my throat was starting to push through my eyes, and I knew for a fact that it wasn't the rain.

Did I just...was I just _fake crying_? No way. No way!

Shocked out of my mind, I rain two fingers under my eyes and, sure enough, there were hot drops making their way down my cheeks. I nearly smiled as I started rubbing them off with the back of my hand. After a couple of sniffles and weak gasps, I heard the familiar click of the camera and looked down to see that Axel had bumped it as he sat up. Concern was etched all over his soaking wet face and as to how I could see that...we were just inches, _centimeters_ away from touching mouth to mouth.

Just fly. That's it; it's all you can do.

"Hey...hey you did it." Axel reached a hand out to me and just as I readied myself for a pat on the shoulder he stopped midway and switched to lightly touching my face instead. My tears just got warmer that way and I couldn't've asked for a fluffier moment. Rain + romantic one liners + touching ?

Going over that equation in my head, I continued to watch Axel's fingers while he ran them against my wet cheek. I sniffled again because no matter what I tried the fake crying wouldn't stop. Maybe it wasn't fake then? Did I seriously think that he was _dying_?

"Yeah. Yeah I guess I did."

"You wanna stop? Takes a while to get used to."

I hesitantly glanced at the camera, but something weird in the way he began holding my face made me look back to him. God, I can't figure out what I'm doing here in the rain, _with_ Axel, my top crush and possible heartthrob since 7 weeks ago. When he acts, he's perfect. When he's himself, he's perfect. There's just no balancing it out.

"No...no I don't think so."

"Fine with me." The rain falling between our faces parted to the side when he leaned over me and I pushed against his body in a barely shaking move. I hadn't bothered to think or wonder what it would feel like to actually kiss Axel. It'd been a passing thought, sure. But now that it was happening, man, what was I supposed to do?

His lips were wet and I nearly slipped mine away when ours touched. We stayed that way for a while before I noticed that he'd parted his lips and slowly began kissing my lower lip. I didn't move. Was this what making out was like? You know what...asking questions ends now. This is Axel Roxas time. And with that, I kissed him back just as subtly with a light brush of my tongue.

Staged crying, rain water phobia, friend into lover—Problem(s) solved.

* * *

_Love is like a raindrop. Small or big... doesn't really matter, right? As long as it falls into place, we'll all know something good is gonna grow from it._

* * *

Consider the following—last week of classes and all the students are happier than if they'd won the lottery. People are packing their things, already parking their luggages outside of their dorms for people to trip over, but that's ok considering that there's no such thing as pain on the last week of school. All the final assignments aren't a problem and people couldn't care less if they pass or fail. Let's continue...

One of those last assignments happens to be the one that everyone's been waiting for: the moment where it'll rain on stage. The lights are set, the makeup prepped and the rain machine hooked up to the ceiling. But wait. There's more.

One blue dress sits in the dressing room 20 minutes before stage time. That's _20 minutes_. It'd take a miracle to fix enough makeup on the girl that's supposed to _wear_ that blue dress. Problem: where's the girl? Leading lady, main role? Is she in the bathroom? Could she be in her dorm? Or perhaps...ah, I know. Of course! There she is, throwing up all over her shoes in the hallway. Hm...this _is_ a problem.

Now consider—how to resolve it?

Why, grab the shortest boy there is. He'll look adorable, won't he?

Yeah, adorable in the sense that I look like my grandmother's 100 year old china doll, Ms. Miffy. After a simple wardrobe change, I earned myself a new alias. I'd be lucky if Axel happened to break me into a million tiny pieces on stage.

"Hm. Does that look good to you?"

I just didn't have it in me to crack my eyes open. I don't know about you, but suddenly being transformed into a woman for 30 minutes is pretty traumatizing. Even more traumatizing than falling off a 60 foot cliff, getting hit by a cement truck and falling into the ocean some 50 feet below. Yes, yes it _was_ that scary a thought.

"Oh, Roxas, _please_ just look. I promise it'll wash off, I promise! Besides, it's not too much. It's only for a 5 minute performance anyway."

Slightly trusting the girl—sorry—_Kairi's _voice, I locked my knees and with a heavy breath opened my eyes to slits which slowly began to show off "Lina". There I was, barely breaking a sweat under the bright light of at least a hundred lightbulbs due to the fact that I was now wearing a thin layer of foundation.

"What?" I gasped, leaning in closer to the lighted mirror to get a better look at the faint shade of blue over the top folds of my eyes. Good. She went easy on the mascara. Any more and I'd look like a drag queen. For now the blush and light peach lipgloss were _ok_, I guess. But then Kairi had to spin around and mention one last thing.

"Now we've got the finishing touch. You ready?" Her burgundy hair flipped past me into a dimmed costume closet before reappearing under the lightbulbs with a dainty blue, prom style dress with white lace trimming the edges. God, I can't believe I'm _doing _this! I uselessly groaned into my hand.

"No, no, no! Don't do that! You'll smudge it! Now hold your arms up and stay still." She said, more like ordered while ripping my hand away from my dolled up face.

"Is this really necessary? Why couldn't you do it?" Kairi had just started pulling the bottom of the dress over my head and soon I was covered in a dark blue hole. Gross...it smelled like moth balls and cheap perfume.

Kairi flippantly sighed, forcing my scrawny arms through the two arm holes, and struggled with poking my head through the top. "Because you're the only one that memorized most of Lina's lines."

"Didn't Mrs. Lockhart say that _all_ of us had to memorize the lines?" I asked, pulling my head out.

"Do you _want_ me to pinch you with this zipper?" She'd just moved behind me and paused in the middle of pulling the zipper up against my skin. I fiercely shook my head and promised to swear to secrecy that Kairi hadn't done diddlysquat for all 7 weeks. At least I was productive. Well..._some_ _things_ sorta got in the way...but, hey, it wasn't useless like eating ice cream while watching The OC.

I'd already made my way, extremely slowly and in black shoes that were tighter than heck, to the side of the stage where I already spotted half our class seated in the front three rows. For some awkward reason, I kept thinking that there were more people than usual and it made me cower back into the curtains with my face hidden in the red fabric.

I will not ditch, I will not ditch, I will not ditch...I'm a pretty girl, I'm a pretty girl—no, that just didn't sound as helpful as the first one.

"Rox—"

"Hm, _yes_?!" I stopped being an ostrich for a second to look over my shoulder at Mrs. Lockhart who was smiling unsurely from a safe distance. She readjusted the glasses on her nose and peered down at me with thoughtful eyes. She ended up laughing lightly after some nonverbal cross-examination and placed a gentle hand on my puffy blue shoulder.

"Kairi did a great job." She then leaned close to my ear and with an almost sorry voice asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm sure, no problem. It's for learning purposes, you know?" _Get me out of this freakin' tea party suit before I beat your good-for-nothing, pathetic-excuse-for-an-acting-coach ass._

She just smiled and patted me for good measure. With an extended finger she pointed out to the other side of the stage where I barely made out Axel in the shadows, arms crossed and leaning casually against a wall. He was dressed in a black tuxedo for his character. Why..._why_ _me_? Why can't _I_ be the one in the tuxedo?

"Alright, he's gonna go out and you know what to do."

"Y-yeah, but..." Before I finished, Mrs. Lockhart had seemingly dissipated into the air of perfume and out of sight. Next time I saw her was in the audience...but we'll get to that _other_ important even later. For now, I had to be one with my inner female...again.

Two stage lights to the left shrunk into two circle spotlights and one followed Axel intently as he confidently strode onto the stage with a certain spark in his step. I gulped.

"Hey, Lina! Where've you been?" he asked with a laugh, holding his arms wide while he asked. I then forced my body into my own spotlight, squinting down at my feet. I was seriously trying with every fiber of my being to cut off the scattered giggling to my right. Please, the dress is torture enough. For Axel though...the dress didn't look like it really changed me. You're joking, right?

"Been looking for you," I mumbled. "Prom started an hour ago."

"You know something, Lina?"

I released a strained breath. "What, Don?"

Axel shot his arms out again, backing away from me while he did, and then began walking in a circle. "There's _gotta_ be something about the weather that's making you hate me, right?"

Sigh. "There you go again...same old excuse. I'm just mad 'cause—"

Pulls off a fairy princess down the empty stage. "I'm not listening to that! It's definitely the weather. And even though it's pissing you off, it's just making me wanna...erm..."

Cringe and hold breath. "Wanna _what_?"

Axel's spotlight barely caught up with his speed as he did a running jump toward the only prop on the stage: the green plastic lamppost in between us. Once close enough, he reached out and hugged it, spinning around it once before moving toward me while holding the pole with one hand. I kept envisioning a stripper.

"W-What do you think you're doing?" Pole...handcuffs..._tuxedos and dresses..._? My imagination is gonna explode right about now...

Axel's lips mouthed something at me that I couldn't read. When I tilted my head he just widened his smile, threw his head back and started with the musical number. Every living being in that dark theater broke out in intense cheering from beginning to end. It got even louder when he jumped off and pulled me into a modern day waltz. The laughing just grew to the point where I was afraid people would be sent to the hospital.

The world just wouldn't stop spinning. Students were suddenly filing onto the stage, by themselves, in pairs, boys, girls, apple, orange, banana, you name it. The confusion just went on. I nervously laughed like I was supposed to, said my broken lines like I was supposed to and even let him dip me...like he wasn't supposed to.

Then, like it was supposed to all along, the thing we'd been waiting for happened. There was a faint squeak over our heads and as I looked up I was greeted with a sudden shower of water that got me square in the eye. Everyone around us faintly gasped with excitement to the coldness of the water. Our twirling steps started squeaking against the puddles amidst the crowds 'ooh's' and 'ahh's'. Axel's dripping spikes kept flicking in my face after each spin around the stage and I could feel my makeup slowly streaking down my cheeks and into my chest.

I couldn't concentrate on one thing as Axel's dancing made colors and water swirl past my eyes. All I knew was that I was dancing with a maniac; a guy that I'd kissed and accepted for who he was. Ok, I can regret it for a bit...

Finally, he stopped and pulled me close when the background music faded on a held out note that lingered in the large room even after the singing had stopped. It was weird to feel the rain end in sync with the music and I swear I was missing it while watching some stray, silver drops fall around me. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. Fun...yeah, I admit that that was _fun_.

It just reminded me too much of a certain drama/romance/action flick I'd "seen"...

My dizziness wouldn't fade along with it, that is, until the sound of reverberating applause wiggled its way into my head. I felt Axel's arm pull me up straight and in that instant I saw dozens of clapping hands and people wiping away tears from their eyes; they'd been laughing so hard.

Whistling, giggling and people yelling our names...it was honestly overwhelming. On top of all that, Mrs. Lockhart, who'd been sitting in the front middle seat, shot up from her seat, clapping insanely and laughing with her eyes shut. The students behind her followed her example while still maintaining their endless praise.

Was it really all that great? Those 5 minutes?

"_Yeah, Roxas!"_

"_Roxas, you're so adorable!"_

"_Be my girlfriend?!"_

I choked hearing that last comment, but learned to ignore it when I felt Axel wrap a protective/possessive arm around my shoulders and pull me closer to him. Like actors should do at the ending of a play, even though this was only a snippet, we started to bow randomly. Axel pulled me and him down slightly and despite how much in hurt to bend in a dress, I smiled and broke out laughing.

That felt like it'd lasted forever; just all us actors standing and bowing while we were cheered on after performing our final practice of the year. As sad as it was to admit that we'd literally completed the course, I was pretty sure they were feeling just as accomplished as me. Not only had I gotten over being a stage ostrich, putting up with heavy metal next door and even being a girl, I'd gotten over the phobia of being rejected by Axel.

_That_ sorta wrapped it all up.

With a happy sigh, I pulled myself up onto the middle curve of the no-longer-dusty grand piano which didn't creak when I did. Axel and I had gone through hordes of all the actors and actresses as they walked past us, high-fiving and hugging with squealish delight. And like that, they were gone, leaving me and him to stare vacantly at the slippery mess of a stage, fallen lamppost and all.

"Flew by, didn't it, Roxas?" Axel laughed, running a wet hand through his already drenched, now crimson hair.

I nodded and purposely shook my bangs when he got closer to me. The stray drops ended up hitting him like ammo over his face. When I looked closer I noticed that the drops were blue and my smile easily started disappearing behind a frown. Right...I was still a girl technically.

"Ugh, this stupid get up is gross," I complained while taking a shot at rubbing the watercolor effect off my face. "Believe me, I'll never wear stage makeup again."

One of Axel's eyebrows rose and he leaned into the piano at my left. "What about normal makeup then?"

"Pft, don't even try." I playfully punched him on the arm and he shrugged me off, making me shiver with that same, low chuckle that he usually gave. Desperately wanting to pretend I hadn't heard it, I went back to rubbing furiously at my cheeks. Nasty, nasty, gross, barf, ew. This was worse than the makeup isle that mom made me walk through. What was worse: it wasn't coming off, dammit. I just lost all trust, what itty bitty trust I had, in Kairi. You can never trust a girl with a makeup brush.

Probably realizing my predicament, Axel pushed away from the piano and after unbuttoning his tuxedo to show the drenched white shirt underneath, stood in front of me and ran a single finger across my cheek. I surprisingly hadn't leaned back when he got too close to my face. I mean, I'd already kissed him once, right?

"Hm, hold up. Don't move." He rubbed his thumb against the smudge of blue in his palm and suddenly took off running to the left of the stage. After a full minute later (yes I counted) he skipped back onto the stage, looking like he was ready to perform some operation with a transparent blue bottle in his hand. I kept staring at it like it was poison.

"What's that?" I questioned, raising a shaky finger to point at it. Axel didn't answer and with the most concentrated face he could make, squeezed nearly half the bottle into a cotton ball. He took a huge step forward, inched his face closer to mine and brought the cotton ball so close to my eyes that they tingled.

"Close 'em."

"Excuse me?"

"You wanna go blind?" Deciding that I rather enjoyed being able to have one of my senses, I abruptly closed my eyes with my head turned down so Axel could reach them better. I could feel the fluff from the cotton ball dabbing and rubbing something freezing cold against my eyelids and all around me started to smell like alcohol.

"Where'd you learn this?" I made sure to keep my voice down so I wouldn't mess him up.

Axel scoffed beside my cheek and turned to rub at my right eye. "Come on. I've gone to this place more than once, remember? I _think_ I'd know a move or two when it comes to the art of makeup."

"Either that or you just happen to use it at home..." I snickered and knew that Axel had moved away from me when I stopped feeling him breathing down my throat. "Kidding, I'm kidding!"

"Seriously, makeup's no laughing matter. If you're serious about acting you'll need 't get used to stage makeup, Rox. Especially if you're wanting 't grab the lead role, yeah?" I heard more sloshing below me followed by an ever stronger scent of alcohol. Another fluff ball made way to my cheeks, rubbing harder to scrub the foundation out. "Geez, what'd she do, glue it on?"

I bit my lip, eyes still closed, since it hurt so much. "Hey, she said it looked good on me. So technically it was worth it to cake the stuff on." Fortunately I'd gotten the chance to slip out of the nasty blue dress just as soon as everyone'd emptied the theater. I was now down to my black, no-sleeves, zippered up t-shirt and favorite pair of crinkled khakis. Looking like a star bites. I'd rather be normal.

"Yeah?" Axel asked, making his voice dangerously low so I had to nearly stop breathing to hear him. "Hold still. I'm gonna get this lipgloss off."

Just before the fuzz touched my lips I opened my eyes and looked down at him with a finger raised in question. "Kairi said that lipgloss has a flavor sometimes. Dunno why they would. Pretty soon there'll be tons of women walking down the street licking away at their lipgloss tubes and wasting the 30 bucks they spent on it."

I wish I hadn't said that. But once you get me on a topic there's not much that can steer me off. I mean, I spend most of my life in a turtle shell and then Axel happens to come along as the single person in this world that's willing to listen to what I've gotta say...most of the time. Other times he just cuts me off...like now. Hah, yeah. Being a chatterbox has its pros.

His face had swept over me so closely that the tips of our noses touched. I stared cross eyed at his face, confused at first, but when I heard something like a growl/mewl vibrate in his chest I was anything but. My legs got the message instantly, kicking up onto the piano and making my knees bend so that they were between Axel's and my chest like some makeshift blockade.

"Gimme that," I hissed, snatching the cotton ball away from Axel's hand before wiping it vigorously across my pursed lips. Even though I'd nearly swallowed all the fluff down, I managed to return to being a boy once the last swipe of pink was gone from my face. "See? I can take care of myself sometimes too."

"Yeah, _sometimes_," he chuckled which made his wet skin pulse into my legs and up my waist. His entire body was still soaking and cold to the touch even against my covered legs. The water stayed stubborn, seeping deeper and deeper into my clothes just as Axel seemed like he was crawling closer, up and over the barrier I'd set up. I suddenly felt like going to bathroom with all this cold water...then again...

That's when I let off a small smile, one that just felt _real_ on my makeup free face. It just occurred to me how much I'd gone through over the course of these 8 weeks, stress of all kinds. And suddenly it was all going to end. By tomorrow, 10 AM, it'd be over. I should be happy. I should be downstairs with the others to mingle in their dorm parties, tripping over laid out luggage in front of the doors. I should be accepting praise from the performance and getting through school in one piece...

"You could've left some for me."

"What?" I'd been laid down carefully on my back with one leg dangling over the piano and the other propped up beside Axel's head. Both of his hands were pressed beside my face so I could barely feel the tingle from his thumbs. The loose drips of staged rain were falling from his drooping spikes to my collarbone, but with the faint orange light working all around his face, his body, I _really_, I mean _really_ couldn't care less.

"Quit playing dumb." After that he dipped his head, smirking comfortably on my cheek before making our mouths touch quietly. With nowhere to leave my hands I reached both behind his head and intertwined them in his wet spikes, being careful not to pull. Feeling that, he pushed the kiss, licking my lips apart and twisting halfway into my mouth. With a light gasp I slipped up beside him slowly and delicately which he returned with an absent groan.

I could feel slipping fingers against the black surface of the piano, squirming until they reached the dip in my shoulder blades and began to swiftly drag the tiny zipper down past my stomach. Pretty soon the drops of water started scattering over my newly exposed skin and it only made me lose concentration with lip locking with Axel. My mouth widened as he pulled out and lifted his body enough to run his long fingers against my chest, pressing firmly until I could feel my muscles bruising.

With my head turned to the right, I squinted under the pain, breathes escaping in weak puffs. That only increased when the zipper was unlatched and my shirt was completely pried off and tossed to hang feebly over the keyboard. After some seconds of clawing at the piano, I shot my hands to Axel's upper arms, quickly peeling the black layer of the tuxedo off. He finished the rest, excitedly unbuttoning the already see-through dress shirt so our half naked bodies could crash and move in rhythm.

He'd just lifted me into a sitting position with my sweaty back against the wall behind the theater curtain. The feeling of the velvet material on my skin made bumps run up my spine and I could tell Axel felt them since he showed off some of his own. Another quick smile and we were back to pressing lips to lips, wet body to wet body. I literally clung into his bare back so I could feel his toned muscles and tight skin on my fingertips.

I held out a moan into his mouth when he started trying to pull me into a steady rhythm with him, straddling my hips and grinding our arousals together. I obediently followed his example and moved slowly beside him with my legs spread and bent on each side of his extremely skinny body.

Axel had broken us apart for a second of air and after a quick gasp I ducked toward his neck and nudged his head the other way for room. I began biting his hot skin and running a warm tongue over each one, gently sucking and earning soft hisses in between. I moved upward to the corner of his chin, barely grazing his skin with my half parted lips, and began tracing his jaw line with the tip of my tongue. I didn't stop until I felt him turn back to me and capture my lips again.

Yeah, I could tell that Axel didn't like to be controlled much.

Every corner of my mouth felt sore once we settled down, ending our little make out session on a slow finishing kiss, I guess you could call it. I just stared around us, noticing that the stage hadn't even been there in the first place. The ginger colored light started to make the sweat on our skin glisten. And, no, I hadn't left any lipgloss for Axel, seeing as that would've made me seem like a player.

No. Just gotta be simple. Just give him that one look, one smile and he'll be sold.

Despite the sore lips and even the painful reoccurring thought of the fact that we'd be parting the next day, I smiled while he chuckled faintly beside my ear. Yeah, we'll save lipgloss for next time...I mean, if there ever is one.

Just keep smiling, Roxas.

* * *

_Ever heard of 'Happily Ever After'? Neither have I._

* * *

There were so many things I wanted to do today. For one, clean out the dorm and pack all necessary items. Next, dig through the necessary items and find my train ticket for Twilight Town/home. Then I had to lug all said stuff down the curvy stairs, through the lemon of a main floor and outside where the taxis were waiting like limos after prom. Oh yeah, and figure out a way to pop the tires on one of them...which happens to be coming up just about...

"I'll take that one."

Now.

"You're sure?"

"Roxas, stop makin' things difficult!"

"I know, I know. Just wanted to make sure."

"Sure as I'll ever be. And, _yes,_ I'm sure about that too." Axel chuckled playfully and tugged lightly on a tuft of my hair. I leaned toward him and slapped his hand away while forcing the best smile I could. That one, orange-yellow taxi rolled up along the sidewalk with two more rolling up behind. Four students ran over to them, stuffing themselves and their crap into the backseat without so much as a look back at the academy.

Just like that, the doors slammed, kids whooped and the cars struggled to inch back into traffic.

I wondered if I'd ever get the chance to see these guys in the movies one of these days...then again, I was pretty sure I'd see a majority of them at McDonald's within the next week. As for Axel, can't really tell, to be honest. Where _would_ I find him, if I ever would? Waiter, possibly. I just hoped he wouldn't stoop so low as to go to a strip club for work (even though he'd land the position in a snap).

My thoughts ended when I heard the horn of Axel's taxi blast in my ear. I looked up from the, for once, dry sidewalk and hesitated to help him carry his bag into the backseat of the taxi. The driver rolled down the window just as Axel had slammed the backdoor shut and walked back up to me.

"Say yer goodbyes and get yer butt in here, hear me?"

"Yes, sir." Axel rolled his eyes as he shifted his feet on either side of mine and playfully hugged my neck. I sheepishly laughed, amazed that I wasn't blushing, and sort of gripped onto the hood of his black sports jacket. I felt him return the squeeze below my neck just before he rocked us side to side as if saying goodbye to a best friend.

Aw, cute...yet sad.

"Watch out for that guy 'cause he's a real prick," I warned while leaning into his ear. He just scoffed uncaringly and returned the ear whisper. I had to pause from rocking since I really wanted to listen to him, you know, just in case it's the last time. God, if that's not emo, I don't know what is anymore.

"Please. I've dealt with worse." Ending on that note, Axel finally stood still and proceeded with choking me to death...in the friendliest, most romantic way possible. Just when the stage, lights and dancing started to come back, the horn was punched again and Axel was forced to back away, just smiling smugly at me with every backwards step towards the passenger side of the yellow taxi.

"See ya..." I tried to say that with a straight face and voice, but it ended up coming out like I'd been preaching a funeral. Axel didn't seem to notice it though since he slightly saluted at me with two fingers and hopped into the car which was way too small for his height. I had to constantly sigh to myself to keep from not only kicking over my stupid Mickey Mouse luggage _and_ running beside his taxi, but to keep from crying.

This was just like the first time I showed up, all alone with the stupid puddles. Now that it's all happy and sunny out, I'm sad. Funny how that works out. I began wondering where my taxi was...at least that Cid character wouldn't be driving.

I'd just sat on top of my luggage and tried to forget about Axel when I was forced to look back to the right. The horn had honked, followed by some intense cussing coming from inside the car as soon as the passenger window had rolled down. I squinted with a faint smile curling on my lips. Can you believe it? My first crush.

"Yo!" Axel yelled while leaning half his body out of the window to look back at me. "See you in Hollywood!" Was that a "promise me" or what?

Axel flopped back into his seat after being pulled by the hood of his jacket and after that, the taxi swerved around the corner and blended into the sun drenched line of traffic.

All I could manage was a wide smile and a returned wave while I watched.

* * *

Epilogue

_The way I see it: when people want to act but they aren't related to a celebrity, they've got to push their way to the top. But there __**are**__ a select few that get there in a breeze. Their secret?_

* * *

"_Alright. Next person, please."_

It was hell having to wait. For one thing, sitting still isn't my forte and another, everyone around here is talking to themselves like they're all possessed by some ghost. This isn't any old waiting place, oh no. This is a _Hollywood_ waiting area; the kind of place where all the wannabees, like me, come to become 'it' material.

Staring down at the neatly folded script in my lap, I silently muttered the words under my breath, constantly repeating certain lines that either needed more emotion or none at all. It's hard: being someone other than Roxas. You'd think that being all different sorts of characters in the past would've aided a bit.

It's been 2 years since acting school ended. And I'm finally taking the first step to stardome. Film credits, cement handprints, _everything_ was waiting behind that door to the right. I just had to pass a test first, that's all. Great.

Sighing, I rubbed my eyes and stood up, unable to control my urge to prance around the room to give me something more "productive" to do. I tossed the script behind me onto the faded out, blue chair and strolled over towards the front desk while reciting the lines I had to, well, recite.

_Interviewing dude: Who are you?_

_Me: Me? I'm Matt Evans._

Good. I got _that_ much done. Now there were, oh, 4 more pages to go. Joyous. A quick break won't hurt anyone. Nodding confidently on that thought, I rolled my arms and leaned casually against the front desk, blankly eying the other hopefuls that were either sitting on the floor or pacing while reading their lines. None of them looked like they'd gone to my acting school.

It's actually kinda funny that I saw fawxhawk guy, now named "Hello, my name is: Demyx", working the drive thru register at McDonald's yesterday. Well...that's always a stepping stone to the movies, right?

Laughing quietly to myself, I proceeded with staring at that single door against the wall ahead of me. Any minute now my name would be called and I hoped that once it opened for me to leave, that the whole _world_ would know that name. Call me conceded if you want. I just call it desperate-for-a-car-because-I'm-sick-and-tired-of-riding-taxis. In other words: Roxas-need-money.

"_Great, so we'll see you tomorrow?"_

"_Yeah, count on it."_

"_Awesome work today, man. I'm impressed."_

"_You'll be seeing a lot more of it."_

My eyes rose vaguely when I heard a door close in the hallway to my left, ending that shockingly loud conversation before it. It wasn't until some rustling sound of papers and feet jumping up and down on the carpet made me widen my eyes did I bother to peek in the corner of my eye. Seeing as I, ironically, couldn't _see _anything, I rested my weight on one arm and turned toward the hallway where my eyes feel on someone busting out some dance moves in front of an office door.

No way. "Axel?" I gasped, narrowing my eyes to make sure it really _was_ him. He didn't seem to hear me and went on hugging the bunch of papers to his chest, still hopping around like some Peter Cottontail. I let that moment carry on for a few more seconds before I raised a closed hand to my mouth and purposely cleared my throat loudly. And even though tons of heads turned my way, Axel's was one of them and I couldn't be happier to see that he'd blushed.

The stapled papers he'd been holding fell back to his side in his hand as he locked those same venom green eyes with mine. Once he looked like he'd thought and disbelieved enough, his trademark smirk slowly crept into his glowing, thin face. Judging by the size of the papers, I'd guessed he gotten a part and he'd been given a script.

Sure enough, when he shook the front page in front of his face for me to see, it read the title of the show I'd been trying for and the part he was going to play: the lead character's rather kinky and chaotic best friend.

"Really? That's--!"

"_Next. Uh...Roxas. Is there a Roxas trying out today?"_

"Oh, uh, that's me! Over here!" Just before I bounded off toward the open audition room, I stepped back and glanced once at Axel's face again. He just nudged his head toward the direction I was about to leave in, mouthed "Go" and winked. I would've gone right down the hall and grabbed him, but we'd have to wait for screen time for that.

I was sure, I had this. I was gonna win this spot. And if I didn't, I'd just work as the donut guy on the set if I had to. If it meant that I'd get the chance to see Axel at work, everyday, hour upon hour, it would so be worth it.

Straightening up, I ran a hand through my spikes and strode over to the room.

"Alright, so, who are you?" The blonde haired, British-accent guy asked me as I set one foot into the small office.

"_Don't screw this up!"_

Resisting the urge to bust out laughing, I looked the guy square in the eye, putting self-consciousness aside, and slickly replied, "Me? Matt Evans. Isn't it obvious?"

He chuckled while motioning me inside, shutting the door behind us.

"_You hear me, Roxas? You got this!"_

And that's the secret. Us rookies get to the top with something there to back us up. Even if I had a pretty reckless back up person, I got there. One action/romance/drama movie and millions of heartbeats later, I survived to the happy ending. I'd like to see mom and dad calling this child's play.

I just call it being in love.

_The End_

* * *

**i can't tell you enough how much of my life i have devoted to this story! i just want to get this into the contest before the deadline...that and expand my writing abilities...not like that's happened. i just write in roxas' POV whenever it feels like it belongs. this was no exception. XP forgive me if it bugs you! axel will have his turn, i swear it. -un-**

**the first 5 break-quotes were taken from shakespeare, but i altered them to sound more "teenager-ish" i guess you could say. the 6th one are the lyrics to an old song by kenny rankin called "haven't we met" and it's a very rare song to find nowadays. the last ones were just made up on the spot by me. (yes, that "love is like..." type quote is very much over used XP)**

**-sigh- i really hope i'll at least get _something_ out of this story. i tried so hard and it would be sad if it just died. at least writing it was fun. axel as ANY kind of actor (girl, james bond, kinky sidekick) is way too awesome for words! please excuse the typos if there happens to be any. they might have been overlooked. XO;; other than that, thank you so much for taking the time to read this. you're comments and _nice_ critique always make me boogie...if i say that word again, hit me! -dances- i hope this story will win something! -fingers crossed- X3**

_**all the action/romance/drama rolled into only one:  
kokoro77**_


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